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Monday, April 23, 2007

Here in MD, homeschoolers must be reviewed twice per school year. You can either go through the Board of Ed (BOE) or a private reviewer/umbrella group. I used to just go through the BOE, only had one "bad" reviewer in 7 years of going to them. (The lady "failed" us and marked our review as unaccepted and that we needed to come back for a 30 day follow-up. That never happened. Apparently this lady was "failing" a lot of people that day.)

But for the last 2 years of going to the BOE, we had the same lady reviewer. I did like her, and enjoyed the reviews.. until.. she started "offering" more and more suggestions. "You should try this"; "Maybe if you used this"; "You should be doing such and such", and so on. So I felt that maybe it was time to go to a private reviewer.

So last year we did. And I don't know WHY I waited so long. It has been SOOO much more enjoyable to go to a fellow homeschooling mom that has/is going through similar issues we do. I used to get stressed big time about BOE reviews. You know, that queasy/butterfly in the stomach feeling when you are going somewhere you DO NOT want to? No more! I don't stress anymore.

Until now! LOL I suppose that since this is our 2ND year of going through our reviewer, we are able to either come in for a review, or mail a review. So with DH's surgery I thought "Sure, I'll type up something and mail it in". Well it was harder than I thought. LOL I have no clue how to write it out. So I muddled through it this morning and finished it up for both kids before the mailman came. And it is off to our reviewer now.

I really hope it is OK. I'm going to be worrying about until I find out what she thinks.

*sigh* I have a terrible headache (not from writing up our review). I believe it is just allergies. I am so happy the weather has warmed up.. but this time of year about kills me. My nose & eyes itch nose stop. Both run faster than our stream out back. But I'll survive. :) Just not sure how much work we'll get done today....

Saturday, April 21, 2007

I first was at Target AGAIN! Dh has been trying for the past month almost to get contacts that actually help him see clearly and feel right. Not sure if the contacts were ordered wrong or what.. but he's had I know at least 4 trial pair now. And he is STILL waiting on another, so we go back next week again. (I say we go back, because I love that store! LOL) I told the Dr. today that we need to be put on the payroll since we're there so much. hehe So anyways, I picked up the kids each a new beach towel. We haven't bought any in years, like probably 8 or so. SO I figured they'd deserve some new ones for when we get the pool opened. I needed a new Pur filter for our sink. Mine is starting to leak every which way. So They have the silver/chrome colored ones marked down to $20. They had gardening gloves for a buck a pair, so I got me and the kids each a pair. I picked up some of the pink Breast Cancer awareness tennis balls for Amanda. They were on sale for $2 for 3. Then I got some snackies (Monster Bars, yum), some Aloe gel for sunburns :( and some bug repellent. Then we headed over to the home school store. I picked up the Key To books for Decimals & Percents that I needed. I also got the Tales from Shakespeare study guide. I haven't looked it over yet. And I picked up a 2ND copy of the Your Body and How it Works workbook. I have one, and we plan to use it soon.. but I've decided against making copies. With the discount, it was just about $10 and that will save me in the long run from having to make copies and the time spent doing so. Then I picked up some games! I bought 2 more Professor Noggins: The Human Body and Geography of the United States. So I think we'll have to start making more time for games during the day. The kids really seem to retain the info from these card games.. so I really do need to get them out more often. And I picked up a game called Loot. It is a pirate card game and looked fun.

So that was my day. Now I need to sit down and figure out what exactly our "plan" is for next school year. So I know what we have and what I might need yet. LOL I may do that tomorrow. I am off to bed now. I'm whipped from mowing the yard today. hehe

Yesterday was such a gorgeous day out. One of my local HS groups has a regular Friday play date. We don't usually go because it is never usually a good day for us to get somewhere. And I think it is usually younger kids that are present. But one mom suggested the park that is about 1/2 mile from our house that we walk to all the time (same place we meet on Wed. with another group). So everyone came out and enjoyed the warmth & sun. There was about 9 moms and a slew of kids. I think everyone had a great time.

It was just so nice to be able to sit outside and not freeze. The wind was blowing and it was a tiny bit chilly at times. And I got sun burnt!! My arms and face. They hurt this am. :( I put aloe on last night, and will again once I shower here in a bit. Amanda's ONE arm and ONE leg got a little burnt. Not sure how she managed to only half face the sun. LOL I am such a bad mom.. I always forget to put sunblock on them. :(

Today is going to be close to 80!! Woo hoo! So we have some errands to run, then I need to mow the yard this afternoon. I enjoy mowing, it gives me quiet time to think or not think. LOL

So the MACHE fair is going on today (and it was yesterday as well) but I am not going to make it there. :( I need to get the next math books (MUS Zeta) but if I can't find them used from someone, I will just have to order and pay shipping. It's not that much, so no worries. And our local Home & School store has a sale during the fair as well. 20% off everything! So once we finish up at Target, I am heading over there. I have my list of things I am looking for. I need a few Key To books and I always pick up some new Professor Noggins games.

So we didn't get too much finished last week with our work, but at least got the math done that I was trying for. And most our of Egypt work completed. We are still reading the one book and will most likely finish reading that over the weekend. Then next week, instead of history we need to get caught up with our Charlie and the Chocolate Factory study. So that May can be the month we begin studying Ancient Greece. We should be able to finish everything up by the end of May aside from Math. That we'll continue with through June (or however long it takes to finish Zeta). I don't expect either to have much trouble with Zeta as they are OK in working with decimals. Be we'll see! :)

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

and once again, we've fallen behind in our work. *sigh* Last week was spent running errands, going to appts. and then finishing up with dh's knee surgery on Friday. We are waiting on the dr. to call back today to tell us what all he found. He was planning on snipping the tendon but end up finding what he *thinks* is gout or psuedogout.. as there were LOTS of crystals present. So he needs to be sure and sent them to be checked. They got the report yesterday, but the nurse couldn't tell us what it said until the dr. reviews it.

So he's in pain, but its getting a little better. He is a bit mad that the dr. didn't do more while he was "in there".. as he doesn't want to have to go through this again. hehe No one does, but what can you do.

So today, I want to get some math done if nothing else. I really wanted to have our math book completed by now so that next week we could start the next. But things happen.

Amanda and I will be watching Marie Antoinette today, then I think later the family is going to watch the Blue Man Group DVD we bought a few weeks back. I love those guys, and would LOVE to see them live. I bet that's be an amazing show. I kinda wish our TV was bigger, instead of just 32". LOL

We've had some cruddy weather lately. It's been in the 30's and low 40's for the last week or so. The past 2 days have been horribly windy (up to 40 mph). Today is cold, but not so windy. Hopefully it will break soon and we'll have a little bit of Spring weather.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Well one tank anyways. I have been limiting Jake's "gaming" time on the PC and XBOX/PS2/Wii lately. Only letting him on for so much time, then making him find something else to do for awhile. So about 5pm tonight while I am doing dishes and making pizza (I'm a mom who is thankful for Chef Boyardee pizza kits. hehe), he was driving me insane with fighting with his sister. So I pulled out this wooden tank model I had gotten him one birthday. Its been sitting and collecting dust on a shelf, so I figured it was time to dig in. I had him pop out the pieces while I did the dishes and got the pizza dough ready.Then he helped me top the pizzas (sauce, cheeses, peppers, mushrooms, bacon, pepperonis. So while they were cooking we dug into the model. We had to call dad down for some assistance. We got some put together while the pizza was cooking. Then after we ate, dad quickly disappeared. ;) Well we got stuck again and had to have him come help.. so he just stuck around, "just in case". The tank is finished finally, we have a few pieces to glue on yet. But its finished. I'll have to post some pictures tomorrow.Painful my back is. In bed I shall read. Goodnight young padawans! (Sorry I have a thing with trying to sound like Yoda on occasion.)

Friday, April 6, 2007

We had intended to take a spring break this week (Thursday & Friday) and through Monday but... the temps have seriously dropped here! What is going on!? We have a freeze warning for tonight. Come on, it was 80 on Tuesday!! So I think we'll just finish up our work and wait until it gets warmer again and take a nice break. What good is spring break when you have to stay inside wrapped in blankies?!

But aside from that, things are going well. We are just about finished with our first MUS book. I'll be picking up the next one at the curriculum fair in 3 weeks. Then we'll work our way through that before breaking with math until Fall. I have to update our materials we've been using, as we have completed some things. Our Egypt study ran a little longer, so we are finishing that up this week.

I had picked up a book called "Earth Child 2000" by Kathryn Sheehan and Mary Waidner, Ph. D. at Borders a few weeks ago. The cover states "Earth Science for Young Children Games, Stories, Activities, and Experiments" It is intended for younger ages (Elementary grades) but it is still a really neat book. Everything can be added to for my kids ages, so we're going to start with that next week. I've been writing out a plan/schedule for that as well. And looking up books from the library to add into our learning. Plus whatever books we have at home to go along with each "unit".

As we've been finishing up things, I've been listing them for sale. I am trying hard to clear out my shelves with things we're completely finished with, and also things I've had forever and that I KNOW we aren't going to use. I don't really need to make room for next year's books as I already have just about everything. I just want nicer, more organized shelves. :)

So that's about all that's happening here. We are waiting to hear from Dh'sdrs. about when he will be having surgery on his knee. It is kind of hard to really plan anything right now, not knowing that date yet. So hopefully they'll get the approval soon from the insurance company.